Signal synthesizer for periodic acceleration and deceleration of rotating optical devices

ABSTRACT

In a stereographic projector that places a single linear polarizing wheel in the light path of the projector to impart a desired polarization state onto the projected light, a method and apparatus for periodically slowing the wheel down while in optimal states, and accelerating through invalid states. Stereo separation is greatly increased providing a marked improvement in visual quality and perceived depth when this invention is applied to such a polarizing filter wheel.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 11/______, entitled “Lumen optimizedstereo projector using a plurality of polarizing filters”; and

Ser. No. 11/______, entitled “Stereographic projection apparatus withpassive eyewear utilizing a continuously variable polarizing element”;and

Ser. No. 11/______, entitled “Universal stereographic trigger peripheralfor electronic equipment”; and

Ser. No. 11/______, entitled “Method and system for synchronizingopto-mechanical filters to a series of video synchronization pulses andderivatives thereof”; and

Ser. No. 11/______,entitled “Noise Immune Optical Encoder for HighAmbient Light Projection Imaging Systems”; and

Ser. No. 11/______, entitled “Method to synchronize stereographichardware to sequential color rendering apparatus”, all filedconcurrently herewith are assigned to the same assignee hereof andcontain subject matter related, in certain respect, to the subjectmatter of the present application. The above-identified patentapplications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

This invention pertains to an apparatus and method for controllingrotating optics such that they accelerate and decelerate in a periodiccycle. The method specifically composing a periodic disturbance signalto one or more control loops

2. Description of the Prior Art

FIG. 1 shows a prior art 3D imaging system that illustrates severalfundamental requirements for 3D image projection. First, twotwo-dimensional (“2D”) images of one scene are displayed, such as by aprojection apparatus, one of which is slightly different than the secondin terms of a line of sight perspective. These perspectives typicallydifferentiate a left eye view from a right eye view. This normallyrequires dual image recordation in order to provide the twoperspectives, or views, as described above, of the same scene. However,such perspectives could be processed, or manually generated. FIG. 1illustrates two projectors 101 one of which projects a left eyeperspective of a scene while the other simultaneously projects a righteye perspective of the same scene.

Although, simultaneous projection requires two projectors, it ispossible to implement a single projector in a 3D imaging system byrapidly alternating the left and right eye perspectives duringprojection. The present invention does not require that the 3Drecordation be done with any specific equipment or number of cameras,only that two perspectives be obtainable or derivable from image dataand are capable of being displayed.

Another fundamental requirement of conventional 3D imaging systems is toexpose one of the projected perspectives to only one of either the leftor right eye and to expose the other of the projected perspectives toonly the other eye, such that each projected perspective is seenexclusively with one eye. Thus, with a dual simultaneous projectionsystem, one eye of a viewer will be blocked from seeing the imagecontent from one of the projectors and the other eye will be blockedfrom seeing the image content from the other projector.

This blocking, often referred to as extinguishing, can be accomplishedin two steps. First, each of the simultaneously projected images ispolarized at a different polarizing angle by projecting each of themthrough separately angled polarized transparent media 102. The viewerwears passive polarized eyewear 103 whose lenses are also offsetpolarized, with respect to each of their polarizing angles, such thatone of the lenses will block a first one of the polarized projectedimages and the other lens will block the second one of the polarizedprojected images. Prior art methods of generating two differentperspectival images include differentiation of the images via red andblue color coding, such as those used with passive eyewear having a blueand red lens.

There have been many attempts to generate 3D image systems. We areconcerned here with 3D imaging in systems which use polarizationencoding of the left and right eye views, which may be implemented usinga switched system Prior art in this field typically relies upon anintegrated color wheel/polarizing filter, for example, in systemscompatible with digital light processor (“DLP”) or grating light valve(“GLV”) technologies. This creates various problems because as thepolarizer rotates it causes the polarization transmission axis of theimage to rotate also. In other words, as the polarizer rotates the leftand right eye views are only completely isolated for certain preciserotational positions of the polarizer wheel. For other positions of thewheel, the image will contain small components of both the left andright eye views, which cannot be separated by the use of passivepolarizing viewing glasses. This results in ghosting of the image; theviewer will perceive a blurred mixture of left and right eye viewssometimes, rather than a clear image resulting from total separation ofthe left and right eye views.

Modern front and rear projection color imaging systems, such as DLPtechnology, employ multiple color filters to sequentially projectelements of a full color image onto a screen. These color filters aretypically implemented as segments on a color filter wheel, which spinsat a rate synchronized with the input video stream. Typically, thisapproach uses the three basic video imaging colors (red, blue, andgreen) in combination with a high brightness white light source. Inorder to facilitate white balance of the image and correct for certainkinds of image aberrations, a transparent filter segment is oftenincorporated into the color filter wheel, allowing white light to passthrough to the screen.

Existing front and rear projection image systems, such as DLPs,micromirrors, gratings, or related technologies require high intensitywhite light sources to produce bright images. Despite the use of guidinglenses and optics within these systems, there can be relatively highlevels of stray light reflected throughout the interior of the projectorpackage. Some stray light can also leak in from outside the projectorthrough seams in the case. This stray light becomes a problem when weuse an optical sensor to synchronize the projector polarizer filterwheel with a stereoscopic imaging device. Stray light can cause falsetriggering of the sensors and disrupt the required frequency and phasesynchronization.

In order to modify these imaging systems so that they support thetransmission of stereoscopic three-dimensional images, it is necessaryfor them to provide alternating left and right eye views. For example,by using a rotating polarizer and having the viewer wear passiveeyewear. The alternate eye views are provided by an additional filteringapparatus, which may not be part of the same color filter wheel used inthe projector. In this case, it becomes necessary to synchronize thephase, frequency, and possibly other attributes of the rotating colorfilter wheel with an external stereoscopic imaging element. Thissynchronization is not necessarily achieved simply by accessing theelectronic signals used to control the color filter wheel.

While it is possible to generate stereographic, three dimensionalimaging from personal computers and other digital video devices,existing video game consoles lack the standard interface required forgenerating a video synchronization signal. Shortcomings of systems thatemploy rotating optics are many. In these systems, it is desirable thatthe optical device not rotate at a fixed speed. Rotational controlimprovements are realized by manipulating the speed of the rotatingoptics at rotational subintervals as dictated by a periodic disturbancesignal and cooperative processing apparatus, as described herein.

Published patent application US 2005/0041163A1 describes the use of asegmented polarizer attached to the color filter wheel inside a digitallight processor (“DLP”) projector. It does not describe any requiredrelationship between the projector lens optics and the rotatingpolarizer with respect to polarization sensitivity. Thus, the projectionlenses and other optics may corrupt the polarization encoded imagesignal. Details of the synchronization required between the filter wheeland polarization wheel are not described, nor is there any reference tothe distinction between frame sequential and other types of video input.This prior art will not work for all types of video input such as lineinterleaved video streams. The above-identified patent application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,004 describes a stereoscopic display with a spatiallight modulator and polarization modulator, using polarizationpreserving optics and special control signals for the modulation. As ageneral statement, this approach does not use rotating or alternatingpolarizers or digital mirror devices (“DMD”) and DLP technology as ourinvention does. The above-identified patent is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Published U.S. patent application 2005/0046700A1 describes two videoprocessing devices which process at least four separate sequences ofvideo images for projecting multiple image views on a screensimultaneously. At a high level, this approach does not use rotating oralternating polarizers or DMD/DLP technology as our invention does. Theabove-identified patent application is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Published U.S. Application 2003/0112507 describes two embodiments forDMD devices, both of which use different rows or columns of the DMDdevice driven sequentially to provide different eye views of the sameimage. This approach is not related to the use of rotating oralternating polarizers or DLP technology as our invention is. Theabove-identified patent application is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Published U.S. application 2003/0214631 describes a projector with abeam splitter to produce two light paths, each of which passes through afixed polarizer and are later recombined with a special optical system.This approach does not use rotating or alternating polarizers or DMD/DLPtechnology as our invention does. The above-identified patentapplication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,793 describes the original motion picture projectionsystem (similar to those later used in IMAX 3D applications) in whichthe rate of film passing through the projector is synchronized in somefashion with an external polarizing wheel or slides. This approach doesnot use DLP technology and it is not extensible to DLP technology sinceit requires special film processing techniques. The above-identifiedpatent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In the personal computer (“PC”) industry, liquid crystal display (“LCD”)optical shutter glasses have become the standard for cathode ray tube(“CRT”) and projector viewing for color 3D imagery. However, thisrequires active eyewear (with a miniature liquid crystal monitor orshutter in each lens), as well as requiring a battery and connection tothe data source for synchronization purposes. These solutions also tendto be expensive, are only practical for a limited number of users at onetime, and tend to induce eye strain after prolonged use. These glassestypically use the Display Data Channel industry standard contained inevery modern video adaptor card interface. This data channel signals theglasses that the PC has swapped its eye view.

As a totality, the prior art techniques require modifications internalto the projector filter wheel, and do not provide implementations usinglegacy systems. Frame sequential and line interleaved technologies arenot differentiated in the prior art, which vaguely describes that thesignals must be “synchronized” with the polarizer, without providingtechnical specifications. The prior art does not specify any form forthe control circuitry that is not obvious to one skilled in the art.

In general, the prior art requires the projector to use internal opticswhich are polarization insensitive, since the light polarization must bemaintained from the filter wheel through the rest of the projectionpath. This means that special optics must be used, and polarizationsensitive coatings must be avoided, thereby increasing both thecomplexity and implementation cost. There are no such requirements inthe present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Regulating the speed and phase of a rotating machine in realtime is notrivial task. This typically involves the use of a phase locked loop(PLL), tachometer, power amplifier, and assorted filters and amplifiersas needed to condition signals. There are a number of situations when arotating optical device is employed where a specific state or positionof the device is more desirable than others.

In the case of a stereographic projector that places a single linearpolarizing wheel in the light path of the projector to impart a desiredpolarization state onto the projected light, it is obvious that thepolarized light will have a continuously variable transmission axis asthe wheel rotates. This causes undesirable affects such as ghosting anddecreased image extinction ratio. The polarizing is synchronized infrequency and phase to a signal that indicates which perspective view iscurrently being displayed by the projector. For implementations wherethe linearly polarizing rotating wheel is positioned with the light pathoutside the center of the wheel, stereo separation is only trulyachieved when the filter wheel's transmission axis is orthogonal to theappropriate lens on the viewer's polarized glasses. In the presentinvention, we achieve the result of slowing the wheel down while in saidorthogonal states, and accelerating through invalid states. In practice,conservation of energy makes it somewhat difficult to stop the wheel andstart it extremely quickly, so this invention allows for a highlyeffective compromise. Stereo separation is greatly increased providing amarked improvement in visual quality and perceived depth when thisinvention is applied to such a polarizing filter wheel.

The present invention is implemented in a projection system thatincludes a system for projecting, via a light source, an image beam fordisplaying stereographic image data on a screen viewable by one orseveral observers. Typical 3D image data comprises a plurality of imagestreams each comprising frames for one of left or right eye views,wherein the projection system sequentially and alternately projectsframes from each of the image streams. The alternate projection offrames from each image stream should be fast enough so that the viewersdo not detect that some particular quality of the projected images isinconsistent, choppy, or only visible by one eye. An alternatingpolarizing filter is disposed in a path of the image beam andsynchronized such that frames from a corresponding one of the projectedimage streams passes only through one type of polarization filter. Arotating polarized filter wheel containing regions of differentpolarization angles is one embodiment that can provide alternatingfiltering of this type. The polarization regions on the filter wheelneed not be defined by a clear boundary, or window, on the wheel but canbe presented by rotating the wheel so that different polarization anglesare provided. The present invention uniquely controls a motor drivesystem coupled to the filter wheel for periodically accelerating anddecelerating its rotational speed so that the provision of the differentpolarization regions can be controlled to better advantage.

A method of the present invention includes receiving image datacomprising a plurality of image streams, wherein each of the imagestreams contain a plurality of image frames. These frames are projectedtoward a screen for viewing the images using a light source to projectthe image data. 3D imaging requires that two separate left and right eyeviews be projected. Therefore the method includes alternately projectingleft and right eye views and polarization filtering each of themseparately using a rotating filter wheel that contains several effectivepolarization angle regions. The location of the regions on the filterwheel enables an improved 3D imaging method because the filter wheel canbe periodically accelerated and decelerated such that the filter wheelis decelerated when each of the preferred polarization regions isfiltering the left or right eye view, and accelerated when the preferredpolarization regions are rotating into position for filtering the leftor right eye view.

These, and other, aspects and objects of the present invention will bebetter appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction withthe following description and the accompanying drawings. It should beunderstood, however, that the following description, while indicatingpreferred embodiments of the present invention and numerous specificdetails thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation.Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of thepresent invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and theinvention includes all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art dual projection system for 3D imaging.

FIG. 2 illustrates a basic prior art DLP projection system.

FIG. 3A illustrates the present invention implemented with the exampleDLP system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3B illustrates a page flip signal with corresponding image dataframes.

FIG. 4 illustrates a phase and frequency detector.

FIG. 5 illustrates a loop filter.

FIG. 6 illustrates phase and frequency lock.

FIG. 7 illustrates a wheel with a tachometer sensor speed detector.

FIG. 8 illustrates an external color filter wheel sensor implementation.

FIG. 9 illustrates a modulated LED with bandpass sensor.

FIG. 10 illustrates implementation details for operating the modulatedLED of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 illustrates a universal adapter for a game platform.

FIG. 12 illustrates a typical game platform USB stack coupled to a USBdevice and a 3D television.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart for extracting game platform vsyncsignals.

FIGS. 14A-C illustrate a flow chart and implementation details of a dualfilter wheel system.

FIGS. 15A-C illustrate implementation details of a disturbancesynthesizer.

FIG. 16 illustrates a disturbance synthesizer.

FIG. 17 illustrates an analysis of a waveform for the disturbancesynthesizer.

FIG. 18 illustrates a stereographic projection system using a steppermotor control that reduces hardware requirements.

FIGS. 19A-B illustrate a stepper motor with drive signals.

FIGS. 20A-B illustrate a polarized filter wheel for use in the system ofFIG. 18.

FIG. 21 illustrates relevant inputs used by the filter wheel's motorcontroller.

FIG. 22 illustrates a flow chart of the motor controller programming.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

For generating three dimensional (“3D”) images, two separate twodimensional (“2D”) images representing two lines of sight of a 3D sceneare required-one 2D image viewed by each of a person's eyes exclusive toeach eye. The apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 is a traditional 3Dprojection system that uses a two projection device to simultaneouslyoverlap the images and achieve a stereoscopic display.

With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a prior art threedimensional projection system 100. This prior art utilizes two separateprojectors 101 each projecting an identical scene but each with aslightly different perspective corresponding to the differentperspectives between a person's left eye and right eye lines of sight.Polarized glass (or other material) filters 102 are placed in the pathsof the projected light beams from each of the two projectors. Thepolarization angles of these filters are offset 900 from each other. Inorder for a viewer to perceive a three dimensional projected image, aviewer's left eye must be able to perceive the left designated twodimensional projected image from one of the projectors whilesimultaneously filtering out the right designated two dimensional imagefrom the other projector, and vice versa for the right eye. This isaccomplished by outfitting the viewer with passive polarized eyewearwherein each lens' polarization is offset 900 from one of the filtersplaced on the projector. Hence, each of a viewer's left and right eyesis exposed to a corresponding, separate, slightly different pre-selectedtwo dimensional image which altogether results in the viewer'sperception of a three dimensional image.

The setup shown in FIG. 1 requires the viewer to wear inexpensivepolarized eyewear 103, but delivers rich colorful 3D images. Thedisadvantage to the above system is that special 3D conversion hardwareand software is required to preprocess the image, which is not widelyavailable. This same drawback has inhibited the adoption of other 3Dprojection systems, including liquid crystal based devices. In addition,a special screen is required to view these images, with anon-depolarizing surface. Recently, several systems have been announcedwhich claim to provide 3D images without requiring glasses by projectingtwo separate images from dual projectors; this approach requires carefulalignment between the viewer and the projector, and is not adaptable tomultiple people viewing the same image.

Finally, the system cost is at least twice that of a single projectordisplay system, and is not easily portable since it requires properalignment between the two projectors and polarizing elements. Similarly,existing 3D movies are made with expensive multi-camera systems andutilize digital remastering or similar expensive film processingtechniques; this high cost has inhibited the widespread adoption of 3Dviewing systems, for example in home televisions.

The present invention provides 3D viewing using passive eyewear, thusreducing cost and avoiding eye strain and color perception issuesassociated with various alternatives. It can be used with a singleprojection source based on popular DLP technology, and may be realizedas either an integral part of a projection system or as an add-onperipheral or stand that can be placed in front of a projector. Thisinvention takes advantage of the prior art 3D interface support providedin popular software packages, such as the OpenGL™ or Direct3D™application programming interface (“API”), which includes variants suchas java3D™. This interface is compatible with the vast majority of 3Dimage software and programs in use today. All of these APIs generatedigital content with left/right eye perspectives, for use withalternative technologies such as the active shutter glasses describedpreviously; this content can be used without modifications by ourproposed invention. Synchronization is provided by the device driver,left/right content is provided automatically in these APIs, you needonly tell OpenGL™ or Direct3D™ to render in stereo, and it places theimage streams in memory concurrently. The device driver is responsiblefor sending it where it needs to go (two projectors, one projector withpage flipping, one projector with line interleaved stereo, for example).Other types of digital content may need to be preprocessed to generateleft/right eye views compatible with 3D imaging techniques; however, forsome types of content such as digital movies or electronic images thisprocessing is fairly straightforward (other types of content, such asbroadcast television, require additional, more complex processing toenable 3D viewing).

Referring to FIG. 2, illustrated are the basic principles of an exampleDLP system 209. A white light source 201 is focused through a condensinglens 202 which then passes through a rotating color filter wheel 203.The filter wheel may contain the three principle colors used to createvideo and graphics images (red, green, and blue), or different colors.The present invention is not limited to using only a rotating colorfilter wheel. Other technologies may exist or may be developed whichprovide a directed light beam containing a projected image (such asdigital frame sequential images, stereographic or not) that can beimplemented with the present invention. The proposed invention isgenerally applicable to any light source projection system, typically asingle light source that does not rely on polarization to create theimage itself. Restated another way, the polarization of the light outputof the imaging device used must be random. The presently proposedinvention uses polarization techniques to produce 3D effects, therefore,projections systems that rely on polarization techniques themselvesmight interfere with polarization implementations in the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the beam passes through the color filter wheel 203,through a focusing lens 204, and illuminates a DMD 205 which is drivenby firmware from a video source, such as from a personal computer, DVD,a stored format, or a television signal, among others. Other possiblevideo sources include grating light valve and phase change displaytechnology.

The image content processed by the DMD is synchronized with the rotatingcolor filter wheel such that the red content of the desired imageilluminates the DMD when the red filter segment is aligned with the DMDwhile the focused light passes through it. The green image contentilluminates the DMD when the green filter is aligned with the DMD, andso on. Thus, for each image frame that is projected by such a DLPsystem, the color filter wheel and DMD operate together to sequentiallyproject several color planes for each image frame. The sequential partsof an image are then focused through additional projection optics 206onto a screen 207 to create a suitable 2D image, which may be a stillimage or motion picture. Images projected by a front projection systemwould be viewed from the same side 212 of the screen 207 as theprojection equipment. A rear projected image would be viewed from theside 211 opposite the projector equipment.

If the three color content is processed by the system shown in FIG. 2 ata sufficiently high frame rate, measured in frames per second, thenpersistence of vision will cause an observer to perceive a full colorstable 2D image on the screen. There are many variations of thistechnology, including systems which use 2 or 3 DMD devices to create thefinal image, and systems which employ both rear projection and frontprojection techniques. Details of the optical elements used in the beampath, such as the condensing lenses and projection lenses, may alsovary, and are not essential parts of the present invention. The dualprojector apparatus shown in FIG. 1, for example, could be composed oftwo DLP projectors. Due to its performance and low cost, DLP is becominga preferred technology for many large screen projection televisions,portable personal computer projectors, and similar applications.

FIG. 3A illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present inventionincluding a rotating, polarizing filter 306 which is mounted in front ofan existing DLP projector 309, which may be implemented as a front orrear projection system. Variants of the present invention allow for usewith rear projection systems and for integrating this inventioninternally to the projector. In alternate embodiments, the rotatingpolarizing element may also be replaced by a lever arm or similar lineardisplacement device which would serve the same purpose (i.e. alternatelymodulating the light with 2 different orthogonal states ofpolarization). In a time division multiplexed (“TDM”) video stream, forexample, a PC transmits page flipped stereo images, compatible withindustry conventions such as the APIs discussed previously. Pageflipping refers to the sequentially transmitted alternating left andright eye views, or frames, whose transmission speeds, or refresh rate,may vary from several to hundreds of Hertz. The left and right eye viewsare also often separately referred to as image streams even though theyoperate together to generate a 3D effect.

Note that there may not be any additional optics in the light pathbeyond the polarizer unless they preserve the polarization state of thelight. This is an important consideration if the polarizing wheel is tobe integrated within the projector. The resulting image must also beprojected on a screen or other surface which preserves polarization ofthe reflected light, or refracted light as in rear projection systems.Such screens are commercially available, for example by ScreenTech™, ofHamburg, Germany, and Da-lite™ of Warsaw, Ind., USA. We also note thatour invention may apply to other types of image projection technologybesides DMD/DLP; for example, the recently proposed grating light valve(“GLV”) technology. GLV is an alternative to DLP and other light engineprojection technologies, in which a combination of diffraction gratingand liquid crystal technology is used to generate 2D images suitable foreither rear or front projection systems.

With the present invention, passive polarizing eyewear can be used toview the full color 3D image(s). The proposed invention is intended tobe used with the industry standard linearly polarized 3D glasses, havingan orthogonal polarization orientation with 0° centered between left andright eye: left eye −45° with respect to 0°, and right eye +45° withrespect to 0°. Obviously, these angle orientations are not a requirementof the present invention but are selected merely for industrycompatibility. The present invention can be easily adjusted forimplementation using other angular relationships. It will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that minor adjustments to the invention willallow the use of passive eyewear with lenses having differentpolarization orientations as well as circular or elliptical polarizationstates. Circular and elliptical polarized passive eyewear iscommercially available.

It is well known that given a sufficiently fast video refresh rate, thehuman eye's persistence of vision will cause it to perceive a true color3D image, given an appropriately presented series of 2D images. In thisway, an existing DLP projector can be upgraded to project 3D images, byimplementing an external device to be placed at the output aperture ofthe projector, thereby requiring no modification to the originalprojector hardware or firmware. Note that frame sequential video signalsmust be used in order to achieve this effect with the present invention.Frame sequential video signals describe a time division multiplexedsignal of alternating left-eye designated and right-eye designatedimages. This means that individually transmitted images eachrepresenting a left or right eye view are sequentially received andhandled by the projection system. Although it may be ideal to alternatea left and a right eye view with each projected frame, as is the intentof the design of many digital stereographic systems, other designs mayalso produce a substantial 3D effect by taking advantage of the humaneye's persistence of vision.

Video Input Signal

The incoming stereo signal (e.g. 301 of FIG. 3B) typically is one thatis purposely produced for 3D stereo imaging, e.g. computer softwarevideo shot with dual lens cameras. However, the incoming image data cancome from a source such as video game, PC, or digital television data. Astereo VGA signal, and added information such as DDC, HDMI, High Def,Multi Media Interface, and Y—Pr—Pb from digital cable boxes and DVDplayers are also suitable. A minimum requirement for the presentinvention is an input containing stereo video data, which means thatdual left/right images can be obtained, derived, or processed from thevideo data. Video data can also be transmitted via packets, frames, orcells wherein header information can be used to indicate left or righteye content in the payload. In such an implementation, a 3D movie can betransmitted over the internet, and stored indefinitely, or projected forviewing as it is received, such as in real time video streaming. Someindustry standard signals, such as HDMI, would need to implement apreliminary circuit for extracting the sync signal (page flip signal)from the incoming video data. Thus, an HDMI input stream would work withthe present invention using a page flipping extractor whose output isprovided to the phase/freq detector. HDMI input is provided with pageflip information on the input data. For the presently describedembodiments, we assume that the incoming video signal is an industrystandard stereo VGA signal.

Embedded in the VGA standard is a “DDC” capability which is a lowbandwidth digital message interface implemented typically with abidirectional serial bus, to send page flip signals in parallel with theleft/right images indicating which of either left or right image iscurrently being transmitted.

Industry standard protocols such as stereo VGA provide fixed known ratesfor the incoming frames, e.g. 60 Hz, 85 Hz, 100 Hz, or 120 Hz, where thestereo rate is half of that, thereby transmitting half as many of eachleft and right eye frames/images per second. Many computer programs alsoprovide digital stereo image sources such as video games, architecturalgraphics programs, CAD programs, and medical imaging programs, asexamples, which contain stereo VGA signals.

With respect to FIG. 3A, illustrated is the inventive 3D projectionsystem 350 implemented with a conventional DLP projector 309. Anincoming stereo video signal (e.g. TDM frame sequential) 301 is receivedby the conventional DLP projector which then decodes and projects thevideo image. In parallel with the DLP projector, the present inventionreceives the incoming stereo video synchronization signal and extractsthe stereo sync signal 302, i.e. the page flip signal, embedded thereinand provides it to the phase and frequency detector (“phase/freqdetector”) 303. The stereo sync signal indicates which of the two stereoimages is present in the video stream at any instant of time. In thepresent invention, each of the two stereo image streams will bemodulated as a left eye designated or right eye designated. Theextraction circuit is a well known VGA field converter circuitimplementing the well know DDC page flip protocol. eDimensional™, Inc.of West Palm Beach, Fla., provides circuits for connecting to a stereoVGA signal which then outputs the page flip signal together with thevideo stream. The well known DDC algorithm can also be manuallyimplemented by executing it on any of a variety of processors.

An incoming 2D signal can be switched directly to the DLP system andbypass the 3D imaging circuits by implementing a simple switch at 301.Optionally, the 3D imaging path can be outfitted with detection circuitsthat automatically detect incoming multiple image streams andautomatically send those signals to the 3D generating technology of thepresent invention. Such an automatic activation option could also bemanually disabled. These alternative embodiments are considered to besimple adjustments to the present invention and do not fall outside thescope of the present claims.

Field Converter

The input signal is received by a field converter that extracts the pageflip signal, as described above, which indicates which of left or righteye data is present in the signal. The video data continues to beprovided to the DLP projector while the page flip data is used by thecircuitry of the present invention. The output signal of the fieldconverter 361 (of FIG. 3B) alternates between an indication for left eyeview and an indication for a right eye view. In a limited embodiment,this output signal could be a simple binary square wave output, asillustrated in FIG. 3B, and is provided to the phase/freq detector. Thesquare wave 361 indicates, for example, that the logical “1” (or highervoltage level) corresponds to right eye data, designated “R”, in thevideo stream 362. A logical “0” (lower voltage level) indicates acorresponding left eye image, designated “L”, being transmitted in theimage data 362.

Phase/Frequency Detector

A preferred embodiment of the present invention uses positive edgetriggering, or edge sensitive triggering, to generate the requiredsignals. An alternate embodiment could use level sensitive triggering,in which the signal is switched based on its amplitude crossing apreselected threshold. Level sensitivity implies variability induration, since the signal amplitude levels can drift or move because ofeffects such as noise and ground shifts. Thus, there must be a definedtolerance around the specified shift levels to account for these factorsin a practical design.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the phase frequency detector 303 compares arotational speed of the filter wheel 306 with the frequency of the pageflip signals 361 output by the field converter 302. It is necessary forthe filter wheel to be in a certain rotational position when each of theleft and right eye views is transmitted through the filter and onto aviewable screen. When a left eye image is being projected, it must befiltered by the polarized filter wheel at a particular polarizationangle so as to block the image from a viewer's right eye, wherein theviewer is wearing appropriate polarized passive eyewear. This blockingis accomplished by having the filter wheel polarize the image at anangle 90° offset from the viewer's eyeglass right side lens. Therefore,the phase/freq detector synchronizes the incoming page flip signals withrotational information it receives from the tach sensor 310 and 311. Ifthe filter wheel is unacceptably lagging or advancing ahead of the pageflip signals, the phase frequency detector will output a correctionsignal to the filter wheel motor controller 305 which will adjust thefilter wheel rotational speed accordingly. Implementing positive edgetriggering circuitry in the phase/freq detector provides the sharpesttime detection, as compared with level sensitive designs.

The present DLP projector output and video stream synchronization can beimplemented, in part, using the circuitry design illustrated in FIG. 4,which illustrates one embodiment of a phase/freq detector. One input tothe phase/freq detector 401 receives the output 320 of the fieldconverter. The other input 402 receives the output 330 from the tachsensor circuit. The output of this circuit will be a voltage equal tothe midpoint of the voltage sources 407 and 408 only when the rotationalspeed of the filter wheel is in proper synchronization, both phase andfrequency, with the incoming page flip signals. In the presentembodiment a 5 v voltage source at 407 was implemented with a groundvoltage (0) at 408. This circuit would indicate synchronization, orquiescent operation, at a 2.5 v output at 410. Deviations fromsynchronization, either lagging or advancing, would cause the phase/freqdetector to output a corresponding correction signal 410, varying fromthe ideal 2.5 v output, to the motor controller. If the tach signal andphase/freq detector output drift out of lock with each other, then theoutput of the phase/freq detector will be proportional to the amount ofdrift and will output a positive or negative signal for causing themotor control to increase or decrease the speed of the motor.

Referring to FIG. 4, flip/flop circuits 401 and 402 can be implementedwith chip type 74LS174; AND gate 403 can be a 74LS21; and inverter 404 a74LS04. PFET 405 and NFET 406 comprise a well know charge pumpconfiguration, and should be properly sized to handle the currentsneeded for driving the motor control signals.

As described above, the phase/freq detector receives the left/rightsignals from the field converter. Eventually, these left rightindicators are used by the present invention to control the polarizedfilter wheel such that when left eye data is being projected toward ascreen the polarizing filter wheel will be in a position such that thepolarization angle of the wheel polarizes the left eye projected imageat a pre-selected angle, and that the right eye projected image ispolarized by the filter wheel at a different pre-selected image. Thesepreselected polarization angles are selected with foreknowledge of thepolarization angles of the passive eyewear lenses worn by a viewer. Theangle of polarization in combination with the polarizing angle of thepassive eyewear will cancel the projected left eye image from being seenby a viewer's right eye, and vice versa.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, a second input 330 to the phase/freq detectoris a frequency of the rotating filter wheel. This frequency is detectedwith a tachometer sensor 311 coupled to the filter wheel. Thephase/frequency detector forms the input to a feedback loop to controlthe rotational speed of the polarizing filter wheel for maintainingphase and frequency lock between the filter wheel and the stereo videostream. The phase lock may be controlled to within a fixed acceptableoffset. Loop) Filter and Motor Control

The loop filter, illustrated in FIG. 5, will receive and convert theoutput of the phase/freq detector at input 511 to a DC output at 512whose magnitude is proportional to the amount of offset detected by thephase/freq detector and whose sign is proportional to the direction ofoffset. The equilibrium point is midway between the upper and lowervoltage rails of the phase/freq circuit, which could be 2.5 v for a 0-5Vsystem, or 0 v for a +/−power supply. The output signal of the loopfilter will drive the motor controller of the filter wheel.

The capacitors of this loop circuit can be sized approximately 0.1 pFfor capacitor 510 and 0.22 μF for capacitor 509, and resistor 507 is 4.7kΩ. The sizes of these components should be selected so as to complimentthe gain/phase response of the entire system, including the gain of themotor control amplifier, all of which are well accepted principles ofelectronic design.

An off the shelf spindle motor drive ASIC, often used for drivingoptical disc rotation such as in DVD players, can be used as the motorcontroller 305, and typical DVD motor drives can be implemented as themotor 307 in the present implementation. A DSP (microprocessor control)can also be implemented and programmed with firmware or software 313 asa motor controller, such as Texas Instruments TMS320LF2401A, forexample. The motor preferably is a 3-phase brushless DC motor includingHall Effect sensors. It should be well understood by those skilled inthe art that any of the above components can be selected and/or designedfor particular applications and environments without deviating from thespirit of the present invention. For example, any simple motor whosespeed is responsive, and proportional, to input voltage can be used. Amotor can also be coupled to the filter wheel such that a frictionwheel, e.g. rubber, provides rotational force at its edge. Also, thesizes of the circuit elements obviously would be modified forimplementation as semiconductor chips.

Tach Sensor

An example embodiment of the wheel tachometer 311 is one where thefilter wheel contains a marker near its periphery 312, and the tachsensor contains a light source in alignment with a light sensitive diode(detector) while the filter wheel rotates therebetween with its markerpassing directly between the light source and the detector. Each timethe marker passes between the light source and the light sensitivediode, an electrical pulse is generated and sent to the phase/freqdetector. Such an embodiment could implement a dark spot or a light spoton the filter wheel, or some other marker or multiple other markers,which causes the tachometric device to generate a pulse for eachcomplete rotation, or known fraction of a rotation of the filter wheel.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of phase and frequency lock between twosquare wave signals. The first square wave 601 may represent the syncsignals received by the phase/freq detector and the second square wave602 may represent the output of the tach sensor system 310 and 311. Thephase and frequency detector, operating as an edge triggered device,will output a control signal to increase or decrease the speed at whichthe filter wheel motor rotates the filter wheel so that the tach signalsreceived from the tach sensor system 602 tend to match the phase of thesync signals 601. This phase lock is illustrated by the rising frontedge of both signals occurring at the same instant 603. Frequency lockis illustrated by the continuous simultaneity of the rising edges ofthese two signal waves 604.

Referring to FIG. 7, an embodiment of a tach sensor is illustrated. Apolarized filter wheel 703 with a marker 712 rotates, as indicated bythe arrow, between an infrared light emitting diode 702 and aphotosensitive detector 701.

As the marker passes through the LED light path the detector willtransmit a pulse 705 to the divide-by-n circuit described below. Apossible source of false triggers may be stray light entering thesystem, shown by 704.

A “divide by n” circuit 310 is connected to the output of the tachsensor to adjust for the number of discrete polarization windowsprovided on the filter wheel. Depending on the number of differentpolarization angles presented by one rotation of the filter wheel, the“divide by n” circuit will alter the pulse frequency sent to thephase/freq detector. Such “divide by n” circuitry is well know in theart and need is not discussed further herein. As an example, a “divideby four” circuit would receive an electronic pulse from the tach sensorfor every single rotation of the filter wheel and output a pulse forevery quarter rotation of the filter wheel, i.e. the “divide by four”circuit increases the pulse count by four times. If the rotating filterwheel is made of a uniform integral sample of polarized material, suchas polarized glass, then there will be four discreet 90° states ofpolarization angles filtering the projected image, assuming that thelight beam of the projected image passes through the filter wheelsomewhat near the edge of the wheel (e.g. see FIG. 15C), as comparedwith projecting the image through the center of the filter wheel. Thus,the “divide by n” circuit would increase the output pulse by four times,or some other number depending how many discreet filtering states “n”are provided in the filter wheel.

It will be apparent that the invention allows for rotating wheels withan arbitrary number of polarizing segments. From the previousdiscussion, it will also be apparent that there is a relationshipbetween the maximum phase offset of the signals produced by thephase/freq converter and the number of polarization states in the wheel.For example, if each output pulse from the tachometer represents arevolution of the wheel, we then have four discrete state spaces inwhich the system can operate. Dividing the entire period of rotation byfour yields the maximum phase offset, in degrees, to within an arbitraryconstant fraction of the bit period, k (i.e. max phase offset=k+360/4)This implies a maximum phase offset of one quarter of a bit period ofthe field converter (throughout this discussion we assume the use of asingle polarized wheel without window segments for illustrationpurposes; the details can easily be altered by one skilled in the art toallow for different design points).

Filter Wheel

The filter wheel can be constructed of any transparent materialpreferably a homogeneously polarized, well balanced glass disc. Ahomogeneously polarized disc permits simpler manufacturing. Atransparent wheel having selectively polarized sectors similar to thecolor wheel of the DLP could also be implemented. A wheel fabricatedfrom some rigid material having closely spaced windows of selectivelypolarized material near the disc periphery could also be used, or asingle such window could be placed in the center of the wheel if thelight beam of the projected image is desired to be projected through thecenter of the filter wheel. A standard CD sized clear plastic with apolarized sheet adhered thereto could also be used. An alternateembodiment uses the polarizing wheel system as an integral internalcomponent of a DLP projector.

Synchronization to Sequential Color Rendering Apparatus

In a conventional color image projection system (such as DLP,micromirror, or other technologies) a rotating color filter wheel with awhite balance segment is employed to provide good image quality. Inorder to extend the function of these systems to enable stereoscopicthree dimensional imaging, a separate stereoscopic element (for example,a rotating polarizer wheel) must be synchronized in phase, frequency, orother attributes with the existing color filter wheel, as describedabove. By avoiding modifications to the projector circuitry, thisinvention also is fully compatible with various projection systemcircuitry used to improve image quality, such as averaging over adjacentpixels to smooth the image and prevent aberrations.

Referring to FIG. 8, an effective synchronization signal, or page-flipsignal, is derivable from a set of three photodetectors 801 placedanywhere in the output light path 820 of a projector, which intercept avery small fraction of the output light. This technique replaces theneed to extract page flip signals from the video data stream itself, viathe field converter described above. Each of these are coupled to an XORsuch that they provide an output pulse whenever a corresponding color ispresent in the projector light output. The output of the XOR circuit iscoupled to the phase/freq detector and replaces the page flip signalfrom the field converter. The three detectors are covered with threedifferent color filters, matching the red, green, and blue principlecolors used by the projector filter wheel 802, or other correspondingfilter wheel colors. The outputs of these detectors are individuallyaccessible (for optional alternate embodiments, which for example mayuse the output of a single detector in combination with the XOR circuitto determine the position of a given color filter segment), and inaddition the exclusive OR circuit 803 function is performed on acombination of all three signals (when all three photodetectors output apulse the XOR will output a single pulse). They are preferentiallyplaced near the edge of the illuminating beam 820, so as to minimallyobstruct the light beam. This may also be facilitated by various methodswhich are apparent to one skilled in the art, such as employing a smallpartially reflective mirror to sample the light output and redirect itto the photodetectors. The detector array 801 together with XOR circuit803 thus provides four possible individual output signals.

To illustrate operation of the invention, consider what happens when thefilter wheel 802 is positioned with the red segment in front of thelight source. In this case, only an external photodetector with a reddetector will produce a signal, while the other two remain dark sincethe red light cannot penetrate their filters. When the red detectoroutput is high and the others are low, this indicates that the red colorfilter wheel is positioned in front of the light source. Similarly, wecan detect when the blue or green filter wheel is so positioned. Notethat if the wheel 802 contains only three colors, it is now possible totrigger the stereoscopic element from the position of any given color.However, if the filter wheel contains a white segment, then eachdetector will trigger twice per rotation of the filter wheel (forexample, the red detector will trigger both when the red filter ispresent and when the white filter is present, since white light containsred among its components). Furthermore, if the red/green/blue/whitesegments of the filter wheel are not of equal size, then the multipletrigger events will extend for different time durations.

We incorporate an EXCLUSIVE OR (XOR) circuit 803, which will onlytrigger when all three photodetectors 801 are illuminated equally(indicating the presence of white light). In this way, the exactposition and duration of all filter wheel segments can be determinedwithout modifications to the filter wheel circuitry. It should be keptin mind, as discussed above, that the color filter wheel rotates at aninteger multiple of the frame rate and an appropriate divide-by circuit(not shown) is coupled to the output of the XOR circuit beforeforwarding the signal to the phase/freq detector. This approach worksfor any arbitrary size of color segments on the filter wheel. Bytracking the exact position and duration of each color segment,including white, the polarizing filter wheel 806 (or other stereoscopicelement) can be more accurately synchronized with the color filterwheel, and can remain synchronized even if higher speed filter wheelsare used. Errors in the color wheel balance can be corrected duringstereoscopic projection (for example, a red segment which is not thesame size as the blue segment). The invention allows us to detect theposition and size/duration of any color filter segment, including white;with this information, we can control the position of the polarizingwheel 806 (or similar stereoscopic element) to synchronize in frequencyand phase with any desired color filter wheel segment.

The individual outputs from each of the color photodetectors could beusefully implemented for verification of duration of a particular colorsegment, number of segments, non-standard color segments, number ofrotations per frame, etc.

Noise Immune Optical Encoder

To help maintain phase and freq synchronization, the tach sensor can bemade to operate more accurately by avoiding false detections caused bystray light, or other dirt on the filter wheel. By adding an encoded(encrypted) pulse train source and detector to the tach sensor, thiswill filter out stray light incident on the light sensor which willgenerate false triggers.

An infrared light emitting diode (LED) transmitter can be modulated,rather than remain unmodulated without the present improvement, with arelatively low data rate (hundreds of kHz or less) signal, such as asine wave taken from an on-board oscillator. The infrared receiverfilter circuit can be tuned to accept only signals which fall within thepassband of this signal. In this approach, a valid sensor signal wouldonly be registered if the transmitter modulation was detected, so thatstray light would not create a false sensor signal. This can be done byusing a simple capacitive bandpass filter circuit, whose passband iscentered on the center frequency of the on-board electronic oscillatorand whose bandwidth is narrow enough to avoid passing harmonics of thisoscillator frequency (typically under a few tens of kHz will suffice).FIG. 9 illustrates this simple improvement over the standard tach sensorconfiguration of FIG. 7, described above. The LED 902 and photosensitivedetector 901 are arranged around filter wheel 905 as explained abovewith respect to FIG. 8. In addition, a low frequency oscillator 904 iscoupled to the LED for causing it to transmit preselected detectabledata to be filtered by passband filter 903. In this manner, unwantedstray light that might otherwise cause false triggering of the tachsensor can be filtered. Only a legitimate interruption of the bit streamcaused by the filter wheel marker will trigger a tach sensor pulse.

In this approach, a valid sensor signal from the rotating wheel wouldonly be registered if the LED transmitter modulation signal wasdetected. If stray light from another source illuminated the receiver,the resulting signal would fall outside the passband of the receiverfilter circuit and hence would not be detected. In this manner, straylight would not create a false sensor signal. This method is expected toimprove the signal-to-noise ratio of the rotating wheel measurement by 3dB or more. This approach is also extensible to multiple sensor cases,such as those used to distinguish color filter wheel position. In fact,multiple rotating elements in the same projector can use this approachat the same time, provided that the modulation signals they use do notoverlap at any of the receiver filters. For example, two separatemodulation frequencies can be used to drive two LEDs, where the firstLED measures the rotation speed of a color filter wheel, and the secondLED measures the rotation speed of a stereoscopic wheel. As long as thetwo receiver circuits can distinguish between the two LED modulationfrequencies, the two LEDs will not interfere with each other. Thisapproach can be extended to an arbitrary number of rotational elementsin a single imaging system.

Referring to FIG. 10, an exemplary tach sensor implementation 1004 woulduse an LED as a light source 1001 on one side of the filter wheel 1005and a photosensitive diode 1003 on the other side of the filter wheel. Amark 1007 on the filter wheel triggers an output pulse from thephotodetector 1003 at output 1006 for each revolution of the filterwheel, which is coupled to the “divide by n” circuit described above.The preferred embodiment comprises a bit stream verification circuit1002, which generates a recognizable and repeatable 16 bit or 24 bitpattern (the number is not critical to the present invention so long asit is large enough to avoid a false trigger, i.e. random light noise inthe projector environment repeats the bit pattern), that is verified bythe microprocessor 1002 by detecting the repeating 16 or 24 bitsequence. This implementation is not required for the presentembodiment, but is useful to avoid false triggers.

A transmission rate of the encoded bitstream at several hundred kHz anda marker on the filter wheel of approximately 2-3 degrees of the disccircumference, wherein a four-aspect disc is spinning at approximately21.5 Hz for an 85 Hz video signal, is sufficient to interrupt thousandsof encoded and transmitted bits in the bitstream and so provides a largereliable target for verifying detection of the marker as opposed toother random obstructions, e.g. dust, that may be present on the filterwheel. Variations from these design points are mere design selectionswhich do not stray from the spirit of the present inventive embodiment.

Universal Stereographic Trigger Peripheral for Electronic Equipment

Many PCs, including Apple's Macintosh™ personal computers have theability to run in 3D mode whereby two camera objects are instantiated bya 3D application programming interface (“API”), be it the OpenGL™ API orMicrosoft's Direct3D™ API. A PC requires a device driver to trigger anexternal device (such as the shutter eyewear described above) to blockone eye view or the other. We have referred to this trigger as a pageflip signal and a sync signal above. These API technologies are anindustry standard, as is the software to generate the 3D image pair. Ourinvention can be easily utilized with these standard interfaces and alsoallows use of passive eyewear and a single projection source in order toimplement stereographic projection on these systems. These also allowthe user to change the output frequency of the video card on thecomputer, including the page flip signal. This allows a wider range ofcomputers and projectors to exploit the present invention. Additionally,software which enables page flipped stereo drivers would allow forbroader applications of the present invention such as full motiondigital video.

Standard video game platforms have a USB, or other industry standard,connector interface for attachment of peripheral devices. According tothe present implementation, hardware is provided which attaches to thegame platform USB bus and provides a synchronization signal at an outputsuitable for connection to a stereoscopic imaging/projection system.This hardware may consist of an electronic circuit with a USB connectorinterface on one side and an electronic connection on the other sidewhich provides a compatible signal to the peripheral device (many typeof connectors may satisfy this requirement, for example a 3 pin devicewith a vertical alignment key).

Stated another way, the present invention comprises a housing containingcomponents that are coupled to both a video game platform having a USBport and a 3D television enabled with the stereographic projectionapparatus described herein. This invention is useful for converting gameplatform signals so that they will display in 3D. The present inventionworks with PC or DVD player outputs and can be modified to work with anumber of video game platforms. A synchronization signal can beextracted from a video game USB interface by utilizing one aspect of thepresent invention. The game platform video signal can then be bufferedoutput at a standard 3pin output connector which is connected to a 3Denabled television to provide the video and synchronization signals.

An optional authentication I²C box can control which game providers haveaccess to the 3D display capability. Software driving all game platformsis 3D compatible, but there are no provisions for automatic 3Dcapability because the games do not provide a page flip signal forswapping eye views although they are capable of providing stereo videooutput. The video game boxes generate synch signals (i.e. page flipsignals) internally and the present invention allows the USB stack toinstantiate a semaphore to look at the video engine and provide anindication when the sync signal is present. Thus, one aspect of thepresent invention is accessing the USB stack to extract the synch signal(off the USB port). The information for left/right eye views isaccessible through the USB port, and a modification of the USB signalstack extracts the desired signal.

The present invention applies to any serial type port (firewire, CAN, SMbus, I²C, vaporwire) and any peripheral expansion bus. By utilizing oneaspect of the present invention, the video game operating system isenabled to instantiate a device driver with an observer in the videoengine to communicate directly with the USB stack down to the hardwareand through the USB port.

This approach is shown in FIG. 11. In the preferred embodiment, weextract 1103 the game platform 1101 timing signal 1109 from the videooutput at the USB interface 1108, buffer and amplify it 1104, andre-route it to the stereoscopic trigger output 1107 leading to theimaging device (for example, a rear projection DLP-based television)1106. Optionally we may use electronic filtering to remove unwantednoise or other signal components using standard methods available inelectronic design. The video signal can be split among multiple outputs1105 via an internal USB hub 1111 so that one game platform can driveseveral displays, or can select which display is driven by the gameplatform, or simply replaces the USB port 1108 on the game console toenable use of other USB devices, for example, game controllers. Theinput video data stream 1112 is transmitted from the game platform tothe 3D TV via the usual cable connected to a DLP projector system, forexample.

With respect to FIG. 12, relevant internals of the game platform isillustrated at 1201 and includes, among others, a host controllerdriver, USB Host Driver, USB class drivers, an operating system, and avideo subsystem. The present embodiment is represented as a USB device1210 in FIG. 12 with extracted sync signals output at 1207. The softwaredevice driver 1113 for the present embodiment would enable stereographicdisplay mode by communicating via the USB stack to the video subsystemto send the page flip signal out the USB port. This would be consideredan unclassed USB device and require a special driver. When theStereographic Projection Adapter is plugged into the USB port, thedriver is activated and begins to inspect the video subsystem status,via the operating system, such as the vsync and stereo page registerwhich indicates whether the right or left eye view is being transmitted,and extracts the sync pulse data therefrom and outputs the sync pulsesat the USB output, identified as 1108 in FIG. 11. The driver willactivate the stereographic output capability of the game systemsimultaneously with extracting the sync pulses so that the standard gamesystem multiple stereographic image streams are output through the USBport together with the sync pulses.

It is also important that when buffering the signal, our invention canforce authentication of the attached device (for example, using an I²Cinterface or similar methods). For example, today the I²C is used as anindustry standard interface to authenticate when a pluggable electroniccomponent is inserted into a socket. There is a simple exchange ofelectronic signals between the pluggable device and the socket, whichmay include information such as the part number of the pluggable device,manufacturer, etc. If the component is from an approved source, it isallowed to connect to the rest of the system, otherwise it is disabled,according to the I²C standard.

This approach could be used to allow only selected devices to attachinto the stereoscopic system (for example, only game platforms fromqualified vendors, or from known compatible technology). The permissionswould be provided by the I²C interface in our invention, and would onlybe disclosed to those peripheral manufacturers who agreed to offercompatible components or to license the platform. Components which arenot from authorized sources would not be allowed to connect to thesystem. The handshaking protocols of the I²C interface are welldocumented, see e.g. Royal Phillips website by pointing any web browserto the world wide web at“semiconductors.philips.com/acrobat_download/literature/9398/39340011.pdf,”and serve as an example of the type of authentication required.

Alternately, the analog VGA television ports can be used as an interfacefor our invention, and authentication can be enforced through thisinterface. Authentication can also be used to enforce other standards,for example by controlling attachment of game playing versus gamedeveloping platforms. In particular, the PlayStation™ has enabled opensource development by issuing a version of its console that can createand test new games. During development of three-dimensional games, itmight be desirable to enable or disable the stereoscopic interfacedynamically, as can be done using our invention. FIG. 11 illustrates anoptional toggle function incorporated with the sync signal output. Sincemany game platforms also function as DVD players, the present inventioncan also be used to control access to the stereoscopic features whenplaying DVDs on a game platform (for example, enabling or disabling thefeatures as needed).

At present, the PC generated stereo VGA data stream is an analog signal,with about 300 MHz of bandwidth (or about 150 MHz per each 2D image),which can be broken down as follows: (1 024×768×4 bits×1 byte/8bits)×120 Hz refresh rate=279,429,120 bytes per second to the RAMDACmemory on the video card (most video cards come with a 300 MHz RAMDAC,and acceptable video can be obtained from processing around 120 Hz (or60 Hz per eye view). Obviously, as video image and optical technologyadvances, these numbers will change, however, the utility of the presentinvention will still be applicable.

With respect to FIG. 13, the method of the present embodiment isillustrated, as implemented by programming code 1113. When a USB (or anybus device like it) device is plugged into the game platform USB port,it is assigned a unique ID. This is referred to as enumeration and thefirst step of the present embodiment 1301 determines whether the devicehas been enumerated. Once plugged in, a device advertises that it isthere and would like an address, it also informs the USB hub of itspower requirements (as USB devices are only allowed to use 100 mA untilgranted more by the USB stack).

Next, at 1302, after the device has been plugged in and enumerated, whenthe device is ready to be used the driver will poll the video devicedriver, or the vsync register, or the video address space, perhaps at avery high rate on the order of 1 khz or more, to see if the left orright page is being displayed. The video driver advertises this andpolling is one method to obtain this information. Simultaneously, thedevice driver will automatically signal the game platform to enter pageflip stereo mode to begin transmitting both image views in multipleimage streams. When a page flip signal is detected at 1303 the output istoggled 1304 to transmit a sync pulse corresponding to the detected pageflip signal. An alternate method takes advantage of the videosubsystem's generation of an interrupt on the Vertical Synch signal itoutputs. The USB driver can be made aware of this interrupt, and appendcode to it to poll only on vertical sync pulses. This is more efficientbecause page flips obviously always occur at a vertical sync pulse. Thesync signals detected in this way from page flipped platforms 1303 arethen provided via an output, in this example a 3-pin stereo output.

Multiple Polarizing Filters

Another embodiment of the present invention is operative to increase thelight output of stereographic projector hardware when the projector isnot in 3D or stereo mode. When 3D mode is turned off, the stereographicprojector video data bypasses the Stereo Projector Apparatus 3Dcircuitry and is projected directly in 2D mode by the DLP projectorapparatus. In the projector market space a premium is paid for greaterbrightness which often prohibits the use of a stereo projector whendesiring to view normal content at optimal brightness. The reason isthat current projectors which implement a polarizer attenuate lightbeams through absorption if they are not aligned with the transmissionaxis. This effect may be reduced by using higher illumination, such asby controlling the lamp current/voltage so as to operate at higher powerand produce more light when in stereo mode. However, this reduces thelifetime and reliability of the lamp, wastes energy, and requires someadditional lamp control hardware. It is desirable to increase the imagebrightness when the system is not operated in stereo mode withoutchanging the lamp brightness.

Referring to FIG. 14A, there is illustrated an implementation of themultiple polarizer embodiment. The multiple phase locked wheels arelocked in phase to a higher order system 1400 operative to control thephase and frequency of the combined wheel assembly. This implementationsystem utilizes two of the previously described 3D circuits in parallel.A first and second stereographic projection apparatus (“SPA”), 1401 and1402, is coupled in parallel, each to a separate polarizer wheel 1409.Each of these contain a phase/freq detector, a loop filter, a motorcontroller, and a divide-by-n circuit, all as detailed above withrespect to FIG. 3A. Each of these also receive a tach signal from a tachsensor 1408, coupled to their respective polarizer wheel, and apage-flip signal from the field converter 1403, which is directlycoupled to SPA1 1401 and is coupled to SPA2 1402 through an inverter1405. As described in relation to FIG. 3A above, a video stream input1404 is provided in parallel to both the DLP projector 1406 and to thefield converter 1403. The use of the inverter assumes that the tachsensors are effectively in the same position on each of the filterwheels. The use of this inverter is optional and must be selected withconsideration of the location of the tach sensor marks that are placedon each of the filter wheels. If the marks are in such a location on thefilter wheels, and the tach sensors are also suitably located atcircumferential positions, that the tach sensors are triggered when thewheels are 180° out of phase with respect to their clear and polarizedregions then an inverter is not needed. Each SPA's motor controllerthereby controls corresponding motors 1407 such that a polarized segmentfrom one of the polarized wheels is always in the path of the projectedimage 1410, projected by DLP projector 1406. When the stereo sync signalis removed, the projector firmware will force alignment in thetransparent state.

Referring to FIG. 14B, a method of operating this implementation isillustrated. At step 1451, the system determines if 3D stereo mode isactivated. If it is, then at steps 1452 and 1453, the two stereographiccircuits are activated, as discussed below. If, at step 1451, the systemdetermines that 3D stereo mode is not activated then system firmware,optionally a part of the motor controller, will direct the motorcontroller to align the clear segments in the projector lights beampath, at steps 1454 and 1455, so that both of these segments are“parked” in a position to maximize brightness of the projected image.Therefore, selected locations of markings on the filter wheels and acircumferential location of the tach sensors must be positioned so thatwhen the filter wheels are parked the wheel marks are stopped directlyin the sensors LED path and the clear sections of the filter wheels arein the projector's light beam path. Commonly known motor controlfirmware implemented in the motor controller, appropriately programmed,will utilize such positioning for correct operation.

Using a single polarizer that rotates in phase lock with a video signalalways attenuates the light, even when the polarizer is not needed or isinactive such as when viewing non-stereo content. Referring to FIG. 14C,this problem can be addressed by utilizing two or more rotatingpolarizing filter wheels 1456, each containing a clear portion 1458, anda polarized portion 1457, or, in other words, composed of an integermultiple of polarizing and clear segments. The polarized sections of thefilter wheels are polarized orthogonally to each other such that whenthey are alternately filtering the projected light beam it will bealternately polarized orthogonally (90° offset)—one for the left and eyeand one for the right eye. By driving each filter wheel by a separatemotor, the filter wheels can be parked in a position where bothtransparent segments overlap in the projector light beam's path 1459when 3D operation is not desired, thereby eliminating the problem oflight beam attenuation associated with the single polarizer systems.During stereographic display mode, for the case of each wheel containinga single polarized and single clear segment, the wheels would rotate outof phase 1800 of each other, so that one polarized segment of one of thewheels is always in front of the light output stream 1459. The spindirection of the wheel is not critical in this implementation.

Signal Synthesizer for Periodic Acceleration and Deceleration

The present invention, embodiment shown in FIG. 3A with accompanyingdescription, can be improved by more precisely controlling the rotationof the filter wheel. Because the filter wheel contains regions that aremore effective for producing a 3D effect, the angular rotation can beincreased for those portions of the wheel located between the mostdesirable polarization regions. When the in-between regions are in thelight projection pathway, i.e. they are filtering the projected image,the wheel speed can be increased to lessen the time duration that thein-between regions are in front of the projection light source. Thiswould cause the desired polarized regions of the wheel to filter theprojected images for a longer duration at the desired polarizationangles. This is illustrated in FIG. 15C which illustrates a filter wheel1550 and the regions thereon containing four of the desired polarizationstates 1530, labeled as either left “L” or right “R” regions where thepolarization angle is either 0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°. It is preferablethat the wheel spin more slowly when these regions 1530 are in the imageprojection path, i.e. when they are filtering the projected image, andthat the filter wheel spin more quickly between these regions 1540.

Referring to FIGS. 15A-C, this performance can be achieved by subjectingthe motor drive amplifier 1504 to a bipolar truncated exponential erroror perturbation signal, which can be generated and applied to the motoras follows. Referring to FIG. 16, there is illustrated a frequencyadaptive ROM based disturbance synthesizer which generates thedisturbance or “error” signal that will be applied to the filter wheeldrive motor. One skilled in the art can easily appreciate that suchwaveforms may also be calculated in realtime using Taylor series, matrixoperations, trigonometric functions, logarithms, and other mathematicalmethods. In FIG. 16, the disturbance synthesizer 1603 takes an inputfrom the Tach Sensor at 1601, and the waveform ROM 1605, e.g. a dataarray in a DAC, and includes a forward divider whose input 1602 dependson the characteristics of the rotating filter wheel, such as RPM and thenumber of aspects provided in the wheel. The desired output disturbancesignal is obtained from a look up table stored in memory, e.g. awaveform ROM 1605 can be used as the trigger engine storing a singlecycle's worth of data such as the 2π radians waveform shown at 1611.

In this design, the speed of the filter wheel as output from the tachsensor and received at 1601 sets the speed at which the ROM single cycledata is indexed. The divide ratio is derived from the number ofpolarization states per wheel, e.g. 4. Therefore, if the ROM storedoutput is 2π radians then the forward divide ratio is 1 for every tachsignal pulse. This is the example of FIG. 16 where the stored ROM table1605 would contain the output shown 1611. The disturbance synthesizeritself adjusts the amplitude and frequency to produce the adjustedactual output 1606.

This disturbance signal has two important properties elemental to thisinvention working properly: this signal is synchronized with the phaseand frequency reference in systems that are phase and frequency locked;and the signal is synchronized in frequency for systems where phase lockis not important. Phrased another way, the signal is cyclostationarywith respect to the rotating optical device. This inventive improvementis implemented as a servo-like motor control system, whereby velocityand position are controlled to achieve this periodic variation in speed.It is obvious to one skilled in the art that such controllers arereadily implemented with analog circuits, digital control devices suchas Digital Signal Processors, Microprocessors, Microcontrollers,discrete logic and semiconductor devices, software, firmware, or anycombination thereof. Some practical considerations need to be observedin this technique. In the case where the motor is slowing down, theenergy stored in the rotating mass is converted to heat in the driveamplifier, or redirected back into the power supply, where it willeither elevate the supply rail voltage, or be dissipated as heat.

Referring to FIG. 17, the waveform data stored in the ROM can becalculated once based on system performance and characteristics, such asmoment of inertia, motor torque, etc. which is then represented in theconstant value k in the following equations. The equation forcalculating the bipolar truncated exponential drive function is, forexample, ke^(−x) for 0 through π, and −ke^(−x) for π through 2π,resulting in the waveform shown in FIG. 17, which is then truncated withrespect to bands of degrees calculated as a function based on phaseshift tolerances. Available phase margin is divided by the number ofaspect positions in the filter wheel which provides the minimum blankingintervals shown in the Figure. If the blanking intervals do not truncatethe disturbance signals sufficiently, interference with the feedbackcontrol may cause unwanted instability.

Further implementation details and resulting performance improvement areillustrated in FIGS. 15A-C. In reference to the figures, the motor 1506is typically driven by an amplifier 1504 output voltage. In accordancewith basic control theory this amplifier typically has a reference inputsignal 1510, for setting a quiescent operating point, or idle speed,determined by typical video signal common refresh rates, which in thisimplementation would be 2.5 v as described in the discussion above forFIG. 4, where the voltage supplies are 5 v and 0 v. A command inputsignal 1511 controls deviations from the reference. A disturbance signalis synthesized as described above, represented in FIG. 15A as D(s) 1503and applied at one of the amplifier inputs 1511 together with the normalmotor control output from the loop filter 1505 as described above. Thedisturbance signal, shown in FIG. 15B and as described above, is appliedtogether with the normal motor control signal and perturbs the motorcontrol signal such the motor periodically accelerates and deceleratesin a prescribed fashion as shown in the wheel speed graph of FIG. 15B,and as described above. The trigger signal 1502 provided to thedisturbance synthesizer is provided by the phase/freq detector 1501 asit is received from the tach sensor, as described above. In the figuresshown, the perturbation signal is a bipolar truncated exponential,however it is appreciated by anyone skilled in the art that this couldbe saw tooth, sinusoidal, ramp, or any arbitrary signal supplied by theappropriate synthesizer, so long as it's correlated to motor torqueconstant, and moment of inertia.

In the case where the motor is accelerating, the amplifier suppliesenergy to the motor to accelerate the rotating mass to the desired speedfor a given interval. In either case, power supply disturbance can bemitigated by providing adequate decoupling capacitance to the motoramplifier (½ C×V² of the capacitor versus ½ mass×angular velocity²).This capacitance can be a significant performance element of the systemif said system is composed of non-ideal components.

Synchronizing Opto-mechanical Filters to a Series of VideoSynchronization Pulses

Another preferred embodiment of the present invention is operative tosynchronize a rotating or linear/angular actuating mechanism used tocontrol an optical filter element in an image projection system. Oneexample of a rotating electro-mechanical mechanism is a brushless DCrotator, but such an embodiment is only an example and the claims arenot limited to only such an embodiment. Other examples ofelectro-mechanical embodiments which can be applied to position opticalfilters or polarizers within an imaging system include permanent magnetsynchronous devices, sensorless BLDC, Switched Reluctance, Mechanicallycommutated machines, AC induction, synchronous AC induction, and fielddeflection servo apparatus, as well as other electro-mechanical systemswhich will be apparent to one skilled in the art. The synchronization isto a series of pulses derived from an analog or digital video sourcewhich are compatible with industry standard video signaling and encodingsystems, or to the derivatives of these pulses.

This synchronization is accomplished with enhancements to the inventionas referenced in FIG. 3A, and is preferentially implemented in firmwarealthough a pure hardware or software implementation is also feasible.This system provides adequate phase and frequency response; however, theperformance requirement criteria for systems with intrinsic largemoments of inertia are often unattainable using this method. To clarify,a large mechanical actuator may need to rapidly accelerate ordecelerate. If such a machine had sufficient inertia, there would be twofundamental problems which the present embodiment overcomes. The firstis that this change may take an impractically long time to occurdepending on the system dynamics. The second issue that arises is thatthis could take enormous quantities of energy to do quickly. Thistranslates into high loop gain, which causes excessive noisesensitivity, decreased phase margin, and accompanying potential loss ofstability.

FIG. 18 illustrates the system implementation of this preferredembodiment of the invention. Similar to the system of FIG. 3A, theimplementation of FIG. 18 includes stereographic video data entering thesystem through switch 1801 wherein a field converter 1802 extracts syncsignals, or page flip signals, 1820 and forwards them to motorcontroller 1805 comprising motor control program logic 1850. A steppingmotor 1807 (example shown in FIG. 19A with corresponding description) iscoupled to spindle 1808 which, in turn, rotates filter wheel 1806. Thefilter wheel in this embodiment comprises four markers 1812 and two tachsensors 1811 and 1815, which each are capable of detecting opposingpairs of markers 1812, as explained in more detail below. The tachsensor signals 1830 and 1840 from corresponding tach sensors 1815 and1811 are received by motor controller 1805 which, through internalprogramming 1850, synchronizes the stepper motor waveform drive signals,exemplified in FIG. 19B, with the page flip signals such thatpolarization states 1832 of the filter wheel 1806 temporarily pause inthe image projection path 1833, of the DLP projector 1809. The DLPprojector projects video data 1831 received through switch 1801. Thispreferred embodiment does not require the phase/freq detector, loopfilter, or divide-by-n circuit previously described with reference tothe system of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 19A illustrates a permanent magnet stepper motor 1904, having astep angle of 45°, with four stator legs 1901 having windings 1905 forinducing rotation of the rotor 1902, having labeled north and southpoles, when they are sequentially energized by applying voltage to thewindings. Conventional programmable quadrature drive waveforms are shownin FIG. 19B which will induce continuous quiescent rotation of the rotor1902 when the step voltage waveforms numbered 1-8 are applied tocorresponding numbered winding terminals. In this example embodiment(for ease of description) each step will induce a stepping torque andturn the rotor 450. Many motor devices are available at degree steps of15, 7.5, 9, 1.8, etc. with corresponding increase in stator legs, whichcan easily be implemented in our embodiment and are considered wellwithin the scope of our invention. By implementing an idle functionillustrated in FIG. 19B the system will run to a quiescent speed duringa power on event, even in the absence of a phase/frequency reference. Atany instant of time, the DC voltages indicated in the voltage waveformsof FIG. 19B could be held constant and the motor would be locked inposition by an induced holding torque.

Referring to FIG. 20A, there is illustrated a marked polarized filterwheel 2002 according to this preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. The filter wheel comprises a plurality of markers, e.g.markers 2006, which are a pair of markers disposed substantially 180°apart on the wheel, and markers 2005 also separated by substantially180° on the filter wheel, with each pair separated from each other by90°. Markers 2006 are disposed thereon such that they are on the sameradial path but separate from that of markers 2005. In the example, ofFIG. 20A markers 2006 are in a radial path that is closer to the edge ofthe filter wheel. Left sensor 2001 and right sensor 2003, which aresubstantially similar to the tach sensors described above, are situatedsubstantially 90° apart to detect both of their corresponding markers,2005 and 2006, respectively, but do not detect markers corresponding tothe other sensor.

Referring to FIG. 20B, there is illustrated a tach sensor circuitimplemented by left and right tach sensors 2001 and 2003. Disc 2002rotates between light transmitting semiconductor 2010, for example anLED, and photosensitive transistor 2011 wherein the disc marker 2005 iscapable of blocking the light 2016 emitted by LED 2010. When the lightis blocked transistor 2011 turns off and a logical high signal istransmitted at output 2012 to motor controller 1805. Photosensitivetransistor 2011 is coupled to ground 2015 and to voltage source 2013, asshown, through resistor 2014. Similarly, LED 2010 is coupled to groundand is powered by a voltage through a resistor.

Referring to FIG. 21, there is illustrated an example control waveform2104 that is synchronized to the page flips signals 2101 and theposition of the rotating polarizing filter of FIG. 20A for temporarilystopping the rotating filter at each of its four orthogonal polarizationstates 2004 in the path of the projected image data. For simplicity ofdescription, there is only one control waveform shown for the motor steppulses 2104, as compared with the eight waveforms shown in theimplementation of FIGS. 19A-B. By extension, the following descriptioncan readily be applied by one skilled in the art to any size steppermotor having any number of stator legs. In the example waveforms 2104,there is illustrated four motor drive pulses 2107 required to advancethe filter wheel to the desired polarization aspect. Since these aspectsare separated by 90° in the filter wheel implementation of FIG. 20A,these motor drive pulses indicate that the target drive motor is a 22.50stepper motor.

Referring to FIG. 21, left polarizer good (“high”) 2102 indicates that aviewer's left eye view, when wearing passive eyewear as described above,is unblocked in order to see the projected image and that the right eyefilter wheel polarization is orthogonal to the right side eyeglasspolarization of the viewer wearing passive eyewear, thereby blocking hisright eye view. Right polarizer good (“high”) 2103 indicates that aviewer's right eye view, when wearing passive eyewear as describedabove, is unblocked in order to see the projected image and that theleft eye filter wheel polarization is orthogonal to the left sideeyeglass polarization of the viewer wearing passive eyewear, therebyblocking his left eye view. In simple terms, with greater detail tofollow, when a sensor, either left or right, detects its correspondingmarker the stepping motor is stopped for the duration.

Page flips signals 2102 are input to the motor controller and comprisethe reference to which the motor controller logic will drive the filterwheel. Each of the page flip signal's high state 2106 and low state 2105corresponds to a left or right eye view being transmitted by theprojector. In the present example embodiment, we are indicating righteye data with a logical high 2106 as described with reference todiscussion of FIG. 3B. In the received signals from the left and rightsensors 2102 and 2103, respectively, the high voltage levels correspondto the sensors detecting the marker. These are the time intervals whenthe filter wheel is paused because the polarization state presented bythe filter wheel to the projected image beam is at a desiredpolarization angle that is orthogonal to a polarization angle of one ofthe lenses in a viewer's eyeglasses. The example motor drive signal 2104indicates a temporary pause due to the absence of drive pulses duringany of the sensors detection states (“high”). For the left polarizersensor “good” signal, interval 2108 indicates a temporary pause indriving voltage, thereby stopping the motor during the interval. For theright polarizer sensor “good” signal, interval 2109 indicates atemporary pause in driving voltage, thereby stopping the motor duringthe interval. These control signals and pulses continue indefinitely aslong as the projection implementation of FIG. 18 is running. Thesepulses are generated in response to programmed motor control logic 1850in the motor controller as described more fully below.

Referring to FIG. 22, illustrated is a flow chart of the motor controllogic programming 1850 according to the preferred method of the presentembodiment. After initialization, the status of the page flip signal isdetermined at 2201. If the page flip signal is low, indicating thepresence of left eye view data in the incoming video data, then theprogram branches to 2202 to check the status of the left sensor, and ifthe page flip signal is high, indicating the presence of right eye viewdata in the incoming video data, then the program branches to 2207 tocheck the status of the right sensor. If the page flip signal is low,then, at step 2203, the left sensor is checked as to whether a leftmarker is detected on the filter wheel by the left sensor, e.g. leftsensor is “good”, which would be indicated by a logical high level. Ifthe marker is not detected, i.e. left sensor is not “good”, then themotor is advanced one step at 2205, corresponding to transmitting onemotor step pulse at 2107 (which shows four pulses total), and the pageflip signal status is checked again at step 2101. If the motor of FIG.19A, having a step of 45°, was implemented, then in this situation twocycles through the algorithm would advance the motor approximately 90°.

If, after checking left sensor at step 2202, the marker is detected atstep 2203, then at step 2204 the motor is stopped because the detectedmarker indicates that the filter wheel is in the correct effectiveorthogonal polarization position, and the page flip signal status ischecked again at step 2101. (This is also indicated by the motor stepwaveform 2104 of FIG. 21, wherein the voltage is at a holding level whenthe sensor is in a “good” position.) This hold position is maintainedfor the duration of the marker's presence in the left sensor, whichmight cycle through the programmed algorithm many times.

If, at step 2201, the page flip signal is high, then, at step 2207, theright sensor is checked as to whether a right marker is detected on thefilter wheel by the right sensor, e.g. right sensor is “good”, whichwould be indicated by a logical high level. If the marker is notdetected at step 2208, i.e. right sensor is not “good”, then the motoris advanced one step at 2110, corresponding to transmitting one motorstep pulse at 2107, and the page flip signal status is checked again atstep 2101. If the motor of FIG. 19A, having a step of 45°, wasimplemented, then in this situation two cycles through the algorithmwould advance the motor approximately 90°.

If, after checking right sensor at step 2207, the marker is detected atstep 2208, then at step 2209 the motor is stopped because the detectedmarker indicates that the filter wheel is in the correct effectiveorthogonal polarization position, and the page flip signal status ischecked again at step 2101. (This is also indicated by the motor stepwaveform 2104 of FIG. 21, wherein the voltage is at a holding level whenthe sensor is in a “good” position.) This hold position is maintainedfor the duration of the marker's presence in the right sensor, whichmight cycle through the programmed algorithm many times.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

Our invention can operate on projection systems with one, two, or threedigital mirror devices (“DMD”), wherein more devices are used to improvecolor contrast and resolution. Our invention allows for a secondrotating polarizer to be placed outside the projector. In this way, anyexisting projector can be modified to provide a 3D effect. Our inventionincludes, among others, one embodiment that provides both frequency andphase lock between the rotating polarizer and the projector signal, orthe ability to handle either line interleaved or frame sequential video.Line interleaved has no flicker, but the resolution on the interleavedaxis is reduced by half. Frame sequential has some flicker, butmaintains full resolution along both axes.

Another embodiment of our invention implements a fourth order feedbackcontrol loop and circuit design, which provides four unique lock andcapture points for the frequency/phase sync between the DMD signal andthe rotating polarizer. There are four stable points on the root locusof the feedback control circuit. This insures stability of the feedbackloop which provides phase/frequency sync. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art that modifications to our fourth order control systemare possible which do not substantially change the basic invention.

Our invention requires only a single sheet of linear polarizer material,rather than polarized segments. Our invention includes the ability tospin the polarizing wheel at a different rate than the DMD signal orcolor filter wheel, providing another control variable for adjusting theDMD signal (for example, to accommodate smoothing between adjacentpixels) or for improving system resolution (for example, by introducingfrequency or phase offsets between the DMD and polarizer signal).

Our invention includes an embodiment that is capable of 100% extinctionbetween the two polarization states which we have experimentallyverified. This is possible because it uses only a single polarizingsheet. Since our invention does not require modification to theprojector filter wheel (which is a precision balanced component spinningat thousands of RPMs and higher), it becomes significantly easier toimplement at lower cost. Furthermore, our invention can rotate thepolarizing wheel at a significantly lower speed than the color filterwheel, simplifying the system mechanical design and improvingreliability. Further, our invention allows for variation in the speed ofthe rotating polarizing elements, moving them faster at some points inthe rotating cycle and slower at other points, to virtually eliminatecolor blur and flicker in the image.

ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS

It will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of theinvention have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. In particular, in one embodiment, the presentinvention addresses problems described above by controllablyaccelerating and decelerating rotation of the rotating optic, eitherintegrated or separate, at various angles. It is possible, using steppermotors, that the rotating element can be fixed for an arbitrary periodof time at those positions which produce complete separation of the leftand right eye images (that is, those positions for which thetransmission axis is aligned with either the left or right eye filter inthe viewer's glasses). Depending on the design of the polarizing wheeland viewing glasses, this may occur at several distinct positions on therotating wheel. Another embodiment might take advantage of maintaining aquiescent rotation speed of the filter wheel during off periods of the3D stereographic projection apparatus, thereby avoiding a ramp up delaythat normally would be required until the motor reaches satisfactoryoperating speed. Yet another embodiment might provide an apparatus tomodify incoming standard ATSC television signals carrying 3D signals tooperate with the present stereographic projection apparatus.Accordingly, the scope of protection of this invention is limited onlyby the following claims and their equivalents.

1. In a projection system including a light projected image beam forprojecting stereographic image data, the image data comprising aplurality of image streams each comprising frames wherein the projectionsystem alternately projects frames from each of the image streams, theimprovement comprising: a rotating polarizing filter wheel disposed in apath of the image beam and synchronized so that frames from acorresponding one of the projected image streams passes only through onetype of polarization angle region, of a plurality of types ofpolarization angle regions located on the filter wheel, during rotationof the filter wheel; and a motor drive system coupled to the filterwheel for periodically accelerating and decelerating its rotationalspeed.
 2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein the motor drive systemincludes a drive voltage waveform generator that outputs a periodicdrive voltage that is superimposed over/combined with a reference/steadystate/quiescent drive voltage of the motor drive system.
 3. Theimprovement of claim 2 wherein the drive voltage waveform generatorcomprises one or more stored cycles of a bipolar truncated exponentialwaveform that is repetitively triggered for output and whose frequencyand amplitude are separately controllable.
 4. The improvement of claim 2wherein a speed of the filter wheel varies substantially sinusoidallyover time.
 5. A 3D projection television comprising: an input forreceiving a plurality of image streams containing image data, eachstream comprising a plurality of frames; a light projector coupled tothe input for projecting the frames alternately from each of theplurality of image streams; and a rotating polarizing filter positionedin an output light path of the light projector for polarizing theprojected image streams each at a different polarizing angle, therotating filter comprising a motor drive system for periodicallyaccelerating and decelerating the rotating filter wheel.
 6. Thetelevision according to claim 5 wherein the motor drive system includesa drive voltage waveform generator that outputs a periodic drive voltagethat is superimposed over/combined with a reference/steadystate/quiescent drive voltage of the motor drive system.
 7. Theprojection television of claim 5, further comprising: a field convertercoupled to the input for detecting sync signals in the image data andfor outputting at least the sync signals separate from the image data.8. The projection television of claim 7, further comprising: atachometric sensing device for measuring a rotational frequency of therotating filter wheel and for outputting speed signals having afrequency proportional to the rotational speed of the filter wheel. 9.The projection television of claim 8, further comprising: a phase andfrequency controller circuit coupled to the field converter and to thetachometric sensing device for receiving both the sync signal and thespeed signal, and for outputting a voltage signal having a voltageproportional to a difference in synchronization of the sync signal andthe speed signal.
 10. The projection television of claim 9, furthercomprising: a filter control device coupled to the rotating filter andto its phase and frequency controller circuit for controlling therotational speed of the rotating filter in response to its voltagesignal for decreasing the difference in synchronization of the syncsignal and its speed signal.
 11. The projection television of claim 10,wherein the filter control device comprises a motor coupled to thefilter wheel for rotating the filter wheel based on the voltage signaland a motor controller for receiving the voltage signal and controllinga speed of the motor in response thereto.
 12. The projection televisionof claim 8, wherein the tachometric sensing device comprises a lightemitter and a light detector spaced at a preselected distance andcapable of detecting a change in transparency in the space between them,and wherein the filter wheel is located between the light detectors andthe light emitter and includes a mark placed thereon having a selectedtransparency detectable by the tachometric sensing device.
 13. A methodcomprising the steps of: receiving image data comprising a plurality ofimage streams, each of the image streams containing a plurality offrames; projecting the image data toward a viewable screen, wherein theprojecting step comprises using a light source to project the imagedata, and comprises alternating the projecting between the imagestreams; and filtering frames projected from a first one of the imagestreams through a first type filter; filtering frames projected from asecond one of the image streams through a second type filter; whereinthe step of filtering frames from the first one of the image streams andfiltering frames from the second one of the image streams comprisesrotating a filter wheel in the path of the projected image data, thefilter wheel having at least one portion providing a first preselectedpolarization angle for the first one of the image streams and at leastone portion providing a second preselected polarization angle for thesecond one of the image streams; wherein the step of rotating the filterwheel comprises periodically accelerating and decelerating rotation ofthe filter wheel such that the filter wheel is decelerated when theportions providing the preselected first and second polarization anglesare filtering frames.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising thesteps of: filtering for one eye of a viewer the frames from the firstone of the image streams through a filter at the second preselectedpolarization angle; and filtering for the other eye of the viewer theframes from the second one of the image streams through a filter at thefirst preselected polarization angle.
 15. The method of claim 13,wherein the image data contains sync signals and the step of filteringframes from a first one of the image streams comprises detecting syncsignals in the image data that correspond to the first one of the imagestreams.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein all the filtering steps incombination comprises alternately blocking the projected image data fromonly one eye of the viewer.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the stepof periodically accelerating and decelerating rotation of the filterwheel comprises: controllably increasing and decreasing a control signalto a motor controller which is coupled to a filter wheel motor thatcontrols rotation of the filter wheel.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the step of controllably increasing and decreasing the controlsignal to the motor controller comprises storing a preselected periodicvoltage waveform and repetitively imposing the stored voltage waveformon a steady state control signal input to the motor controller.